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Page 251
scraped her hands when he turned his head to kiss her palm.
"You speak so calmly of it." Ian's voice was husky and muffled by Alinor's hand across his lips.
"It is a woman's fate to watch her men go out, and pray in pain for their return."
Ian shuddered. "I do not envy you."
"It has its compensations. You do not know the joy of seeing the beloved ride home safe. Oh, such joy. Only in heaven, if what the priests tell us is true, can there be its equal."
"I do not know. It is said that women are frail, yet such pains and such joys would kill me. Well, that is not to the point. You are right, and in any case I will not live forever. I will do what I can, and you also must say what you can to discourage Oxford, if he should speak to you. He is too old. That leaves only Leicester and Salisbury."
"I suppose you think WilliamI mean Pembrokea pox on so many Williamsis also too old? It would be easy to say that Simon had already promisedbut then there is the trouble with the king."
"It is not that, nor that he is old. Oxford acts like an old man; he goes no more to war but sends his sons. I think that is why he desires a young one around the house. Pembroke is different. He will be active in the field until he dies, but he will not be in Englandat least, I do not think so. That much is settled, that Pembroke will leave for Ireland as soon as he can gather a suitable force and the weather will permit. That will be no brief work. It will be a matter of some years. You spoke so ill of Ireland that I did not think you would wish Adam to go there."
"No," Alinor replied emphatically, "not to Ireland. Not Adam. Besides, Adam has no place there. The kind of battle that will be fought there will teach him little he will need to know. Simon's lands are all rich and

 
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